Almost 6 million of the world's refugees are Palestinians. These are people who live displaced in their country or in others in the Middle East, such as Syria, Lebanon or Jordan.. They account for almost a quarter of the world's refugee population. To serve them, UNRWA, the United Nations Agency for the Palestine refugee population in the Middle East, was created in 1949.
He was born months after the State of Israel was born. On May 14, 1948, hours before the British Mandate over Palestine expired, the Israeli State was proclaimed on the territory granted by the United Nations plan. The subsequent Arab-Israeli war of 1948 saw the expulsion or exile of approximately 780,000 Palestinian Arabs, in what they remember as the Nakba.
Why was UNRWA created?
Refugees from the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 escaped to neighboring Arab countries, such as Lebanon and Jordan. At the end of the armed conflict, Israel denied these people the right of return to the homes they had had to abandon, while passing the so-called Law of Return that provided Israeli residency and citizenship to all Jews who emigrated to Israel.
It was then that the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East, commonly known by the acronym UNRWA, was born.. It initially established refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to support Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.. The Palestinians who remained within Israel's newly created borders became a minority and were governed by a military administration until 1966.
- Also called the “Palestinian catastrophe”, it was the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland between 1947 and 1948, and the permanent displacement of the majority of Palestinian Arabs.. Nakba describes both the events of 1948 and the current occupation of the Palestinians in their occupied territories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip), as well as their persecution and displacement in the Palestinian territories and in the Palestinian refugee camps.. The “catastrophe” included the declaration of 78% of the British mandate as Israel, the expulsion and flight of 700,000 Palestinians, the depopulation and destruction of more than 500 Palestinian villages by the Israeli armed forces and the subsequent geographical erasure, the denial of the right Palestinian to return and the creation of permanent Palestinian refugees.
Why an agency only for Palestinians?
There is already a UN agency dedicated to the millions of refugees in the world. It's UNHCR. Why then a specific agency for the case of the Palestinians?
Palestinian refugees see the agency as a lifeline,” says UNRWA commissioner general
UNRWA is unique within the United Nations system for two reasons, the agency itself explains.. The first, its decades-long commitment to a specific population group. The second is the fact that it provides its services directly to the Palestine refugee population. “Palestinian refugees see the agency as a lifeline,” says UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini.
The agency plans and develops its own projects, as well as building and maintaining its schools, clinics and centers for women and the disabled.. Currently, UNRWA has more than a thousand facilities, employing more than 30,000 workers, of which 99% have refugee status.
Who and how does UNRWA finance?
Since 1949, UNRWA has provided Palestine refugees with education, healthcare, food, social services and humanitarian aid.. For this, it has been financed almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States.. But its reality is more complicated: the agency has had a deficit since its founding.
UNRWA has been underfunded for a decade. In 2022, contributions worth €1.1 billion were promised to the agency. Half of that money came from member states of the European Union. But 2023 began with a debt of 70 million euros.
Even with difficulties (the number of refugees continues to increase and there are more promises of money than reality), the system of voluntary contributions worked. This is what is now blown up, after the Israeli accusation. Tel Aviv claims that twelve agency workers participated in the Hamas attacks on October 7 that left some 1,140 dead in Israel.
What is known about the alleged Hamas collaborators?
Lazzarini took immediate action: the accused employees were immediately fired. “Any UNRWA staff member who has been involved in acts of terrorism will be held accountable, including through criminal proceedings,” stressed the UNRWA Commissioner General.
According to a statement from the US State Department, the accusations concern twelve UNRWA employees.. A report reported by The New York Times indicates that of the twelve employees fired, ten are from Hamas and one from Islamic Jihad.. One of the employees was involved in the kidnapping of an Israeli woman and the other in transporting the body of a soldier killed in Gaza.
Specifically, according to the American newspaper, one of the employees, a counselor at a UNRWA school in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, is accused of “working with his son to kidnap a woman in Israel.”. The second, “from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, is accused of helping bring the body of a dead Israeli soldier to the Strip, as well as distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attack, October 7.”
Which countries stop helping UNRWA?
Although the matter has not yet been officially or independently investigated, following the Israeli allegations and UNRWA's dismissal of twelve workers, several countries have suspended aid to the UN agency.. First it was the United States and then it was followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Austria and Romania.
Had the US stopped contributing before?
In reality, the US had already turned off the tap on its contributions to UNRWA before.. The country cut its economic support in 2018, by decision of Donald Trump. The then president criticized the United Nations in general and the agency for the Palestinians in particular.. With the arrival of Joe Biden to the White House, North American donations returned. Currently, the United States was the main contributor to UNRWA along with Germany, the European Union and Sweden.
What will Spain do?
Norway, Ireland and Luxembourg have expressed their rejection of a suspension of aid, because they consider it essential in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.. It is the position that Spain maintains. The Government has already said that it will continue funding UNRWA. In 2023, our country contributed about 18.5 million euros. This amount includes the 10 million approved last December, following the decision to triple cooperation and humanitarian aid to Palestine.
What does the European Union say?
The European Commission assured this Monday that it will “review” its support for UNRWA after Israel's accusations. The Community Executive indicates in a statement that “it will determine the next financing decisions for UNRWA in light of the very serious accusations” made in relation to the staff of the UN agency.. The Commission also requests that all personnel of this UN agency be investigated as soon as possible to “confirm that they did not participate in the attacks.”
How much money does the EU contribute to UNRWA?
The EU is the largest donor of humanitarian and development aid to Gaza, and has quadrupled its humanitarian aid payments to more than €100 million since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October. Much of this funding is channeled through UNRWA, which since the outbreak of war has played a leading role in providing aid to Gazans.. Between 2021 and 2023, the EU contribution to UNRWA's program budget amounted to €281 million.